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Exodus Chapter
Eighteen
Exodus 18
Chapter Contents
Jethro brings to Moses his wife and two sons. (1-6) Moses
entertains Jethro. (7-12) Jethro's counsel to Moses. (13-27)
Commentary on Exodus 18:1-6
(Read Exodus 18:1-6)
Jethro came to rejoice with Moses in the happiness of
Israel, and to bring his wife and children to him. Moses must have his family
with him, that while he ruled the church of God, he might set a good example in
family government, 1 Timothy 3:5.
Commentary on Exodus 18:7-12
(Read Exodus 18:7-12)
Conversation concerning God's wondrous works is good, and
edifies. Jethro not only rejoiced in the honour done to his son-in-law, but in
all the goodness done to Israel. Standers-by were more affected with the
favours God had showed to Israel, than many were who received them. Jethro gave
the glory to Israel's God. Whatever we have the joy of, God must have the
praise. They joined in a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Mutual friendship is
sanctified by joint worship. It is very good for relations and friends to join
in the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and praise, as those that meet in Christ.
This was a temperate feast; they did eat bread, manna. Jethro must see and
taste that bread from heaven, and though a gentile, is welcome: the gentiles
are welcomed to Christ the Bread of life.
Commentary on Exodus 18:13-27
(Read Exodus 18:13-27)
Here is the great zeal and the toil of Moses as a
magistrate. Having been employed to redeem Israel out of the house of bondage,
he is a further type of Christ, that he is employed as a lawgiver and a judge
among them. If the people were as quarrelsome one with another as they were with
God, no doubt Moses had many causes brought before him. This business Moses was
called to; it appears that he did it with great care and kindness. The meanest
Israelite was welcome to bring his cause before him. Moses kept to his business
from morning to night. Jethro thought it was too much for him to undertake
alone; also it would make the administration of justice tiresome to the people.
There may be over-doing even in well-doing. Wisdom is profitable to direct,
that we may neither content ourselves with less than our duty, nor task
ourselves beyond our strength. Jethro advised Moses to a better plan. Great men
should not only study to be useful themselves, but contrive to make others
useful. Care must be taken in the choice of the persons admitted into such a
trust. They should be men of good sense, that understood business, and that
would not be daunted by frowns or clamours, but abhorred the thought of a
bribe. Men of piety and religion; such as fear God, who dare not to do a base
thing, though they could do it secretly and securely. The fear of God will best
fortify a man against temptations to injustice. Moses did not despise this
advice. Those are not wise, who think themselves too wise to be counselled.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 18
Verse 1
[1] When
Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all that God had
done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the LORD had brought Israel
out of Egypt;
Jethro to congratulate the happiness of
Israel, and particularly the honour of Moses his son-in-law; comes to rejoice
with them, as one that had a true respect both for them and for their God. And
also to bring Moses's wife and children to him. It seems he had sent them back,
probably from the inn where his wife's lothness to have her son circumcised had
like to have cost him his life, Exodus 4:25.
Verse 3
[3] And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I
have been an alien in a strange land:
The name of one was Gershom — A stranger, designing thereby not only a memorial of his own condition,
but a memorandum to this son of his, for we are all strangers upon earth.
Verse 4
[4] And
the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine
help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:
The name of the other was Eliezer — My God a help: it looks back to his deliverance from Pharaoh, when he
made his escape after the slaying of the Egyptian; but if this were the son
that was circumcised in the inn, I would rather translate it, The Lord is mine
help, and will deliver me from the sword of Pharaoh, which he had reason to
expect would be drawn against him, when he was going to fetch Israel out of bondage.
Verse 11
[11] Now
I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they
dealt proudly he was above them.
Now know I that JEHOVAH is greater than all
gods — That the God of Israel is greater than all
pretenders; all deities, that usurp divine honours: he silenceth them, subdues
them all, and is himself the only living and true God. He is also higher than
all princes and potentates, who also are called gods, and has both an
incontestable authority over them, and an irresistible power to control them;
he manages them all as he pleaseth, and gets honour upon them how great soever
they are. Now know I: he knew it before, but now he knew it better; his faith
grew up to a full assurance, upon this fresh evidence; for wherein they dealt proudly
- The magicians or idols of Egypt, or Pharaoh and his grandees, opposing God,
and setting up in competition with him, he was above them. The magicians were
baffled, Pharaoh humbled, his powers broken, and Israel rescued out of their
hands.
Verse 12
[12] And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for
God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses'
father in law before God.
And Jethro took a burnt offering for God — And probably offered it himself, for he was a priest in Midian, and a
worshipper of the true God, and the priesthood was not yet settled in Israel.
And they did eat bread before God - Soberly, thankfully, in the fear of God;
and their talk such as became saints. Thus we must eat and drink to the glory
of God; as those that believe God's eye is upon us.
Verse 13
[13] And
it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the
people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.
Moses sat to judge the people — To answer enquiries; to acquaint them with the will of God in doubtful
cases, and to explain the laws of God that were already given.
Verse 15
[15] And
Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire
of God:
The people came to enquire of God — And happy was it for them that they had such an oracle to consult. Moses
was faithful both to him that appointed him, and to them that consulted him,
and made them know the statutes of God, and his laws - His business was not to
make laws, but to make known God's laws: his place was but that of a servant.
Verse 16
[16] When
they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and
I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.
I judge between one and another — And if the people were as quarrelsome one with another as they were with
God, he had many causes brought before him, and the more because their trials
put them to no expence.
Verse 17
[17] And
Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.
Not good —
Not convenient either for thee or them.
Verse 19
[19]
Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with
thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes
unto God:
Be thou for them to God-ward — That was an honour which it was not fit any other should share with him
in. Also whatever concerned the whole congregation must pass through his hand, Exodus 18:20. But, he appointed judges in the
several tribes and families, which should try causes between man and man, and
determine them, which would be done with less noise, and more dispatch than in
the general assembly. Those whose gifts and stations are most eminent may yet
be greatly furthered in their work by the assistance of those that are every
way their inferiors. This is Jethro's advice; but he adds two qualifications to
his counsel. (1.) That great care should be taken in the choice of the persons
who should be admitted into this trust; it was requisite that they should be
men of the best character. 1. For judgment and resolution, able men: men of
good sense, that understood business; and bold men, that would not be daunted
by frowns or clamours. Clear heads and stout hearts make good judges. 2. For
piety, such as fear God, who believe there is a God above them, whose eye is
upon them, to whom they are accountable, and whose judgment they stand in awe
of. Conscientious men, that dare not do an ill thing, though they could do it
never so secretly and securely. 3. For honesty, men of truth, whose word one
may take, and whose fidelity one may rely upon. 4. For a generous contempt of
worldly wealth, hating covetousness, not only not seeking bribes, or aiming to
enrich themselves, but abhorring the thought of it. (2.) That he should attend
God's direction in the case, Exodus 18:23.
If thou shalt do this thing, and God command
thee so — Jethro knew that Moses had a better
counsellor than he was, and to his counsel he refers him.
Verse 24
[24] So
Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had
said.
So Moses hearkened unto the voice of his
father-in-law. When he came to consider the thing, he saw the reasonableness of
it, and resolved to put it in practice, which he did soon after, when he had
received directions from God. Those are not so wise as they would be thought to
be, who think themselves too wise to be counselled; for a wise man will hear,
and will increase learning, and not slight good counsel, though given by an
inferior.
Verse 27
[27] And
Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.
He went into his own land — It is supposed the Kenites mentioned 1 Samuel 15:6, were the posterity of Jethro,
(compare Judges 1:16,) and they are taken under special
protection, for the kindness their ancestor shewed to Israel.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
18 Chapter 18
Verses 1-6
I, thy father-in-law, Jethro, am come unto thee.
Family gatherings
I. That this
family gathering was permitted after long absence, and after the occurrence of
great events.
II. That this
family gathering was characterized by courtesy, by a religious spirit, and by
devout conversation.
III. That this
family gathering derived its highest joy from the moral experiences with which
it was favoured.
IV. That this
family gathering was made the occasion of a sacramental offering to God.
Lessons:
1. That God can watch over the interests of a separate family.
2. That God unites families in a providential manner.
3. That united families should rejoice in God.
4. That the families of the good will meet in heaven, never more to
part.
5. Pray for the completion of the Divine family in the Father’s
house. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Character not deteriorated by honour
Nothing tests a man more than his bearing toward his former
friends after he has passed through some experiences which have brought him
great honour and prosperity; and when, as in the present instance, he comes
back with his old frankness and cordiality, and is not ashamed of his old
piety, he is a great man indeed. Too often, however, prosperity deteriorates
character, and honour
freezes the heart. The head swims on the giddy height, and the son returns a
comparative stranger even to his father’s house; while the family worship,
which used to be so enjoyed, is smiled at as a weakness of the old people’s,
and avoided as a weariness to himself. Old companions, too, are passed without
recognition; or, if recognized at all, it is with an air of condescension, and
with an effort like that which one makes to stoop for something that is far
beneath him. The development
of character also estranges us from those whom we once knew intimately, and who
were once, it may be, the better for our fellowship. But the consolation in all
such cases is, that there can be no value in the further friendship of those
who can thus forget the past. He is the really good friend--as well as the,
truly great man--who, in spite of his deserved eminence, resumes with us at the
point at which we separated, and carries us at length with him to the throne of
grace, to acknowledge there our obligations to the Lord. There are men whom one
meets from time to time with whom he has always to begin anew. They are like a
book in which you never get fully interested, and which, whenever you take it
up, you must commence to read again at the very preface; until, in absolute
disgust, you cast it away from you, and never lift it more. There are others
who are like a well-beloved volume, with a bookmark in it, which you can open
at any moment, and resume where you broke off; and which, though you may be
often interrupted, you contrive to read through to the end. Such a friend was
Moses to Jethro, and Jethro to Moses; and though there came a final separation
of the one from the other on earth, they would renew their conference in
heaven. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Ashamed of parents
A fellow student of mine had very poor parents, but they had a
great desire to give their son the very best possible education; and if you had
looked into that home, you would have seen much pinching and self-denying on
the part of those parents to give their boy a university training. Once, when
he was away at college, they went up with proud hearts to see him, for was it
not with great efforts on their part that he was there? He was walking in the
street with a fellow student when he met them, and he tried to avoid them. You
ask me, why? Because he was ashamed of them in their simple dress, and he was
not going to own them until his friend had gone. That man reached the
Presbyterian ministry, but he did not long stay in it, He fell from his
position, and the brokenhearted parents followed him step by step. He went down
lower and lower until a fellow minister and myself have rescued him again and
again from police cells. Oh, the foulness of heart of one who is ashamed to own
his mother, however poor. And yet there is still a greater sin; to be ashamed
of That self-sacrificing love that nailed to the Cross the Son of God. (J.
Carstairs.)
They asked each other of their welfare.
Friends meeting after separation
I. This world is
not a scene adapted or intended to afford the pleasure and benefit of
friendship entire. Men cannot collect and keep around them an assemblage of
congenial spirits, to constitute, as it were, a bright social fire, ever
glowing, ever burning, amidst the winter of this world. They cannot surround
themselves with the selectest portion of humanity, so as to keep out of sight
and interference the general character of human nature. They are left to be
pressed upon by an intimate perception of what a depraved and unhappy world it
is. And so they feel themselves strangers and pilgrims upon earth.
II. It is contrary
to the design of
God that the more excellent of this world’s inhabitants should form together
little close assemblages and bands, within exclusive circles, detached as much
as possible from the general multitude. On the contrary, it is appointed that
they should be scattered and diffused hither and thither, to be useful and
exemplary in a great number of situations; that there should be no large space
without some of them. Thus it is a world that dissociates friends.
Nevertheless, friends do sometimes meet; and then it is quite natural to do as
Moses and Jethro did--“ask each other of their welfare.”
III. In the meeting
of genuine friends, after considerable absence, these feelings will be present.
1. Kind affection.
2. Inquiry.
3. Reflective comparison.
4. Gratitude to God for watching over them both.
5. Faithful admonition and serious anticipation. (J. Foster.)
Family reunions
I. As to the
salutations at meeting.
1. Courteousness. This excludes--
2. A hearty welcome.
II. As to the
subjects of conversation.
1. On public affairs.
2. On social matters.
3. With recognition of God.
4. Fit for mutual response (Exodus 18:10-11).
III. As to the mode
of festivity.
1. That such festivity may not be confined to the family.
2. That it may be preceded by an act of worship.
3. That it should be with consciousness of the Divine presence.
To eat as before God, will make us--
Lessons
1. It is not unbeseeming the highest places or persons in kingdom or
Church of Christ to give due respect to relations.
2. Grace doth not unteach men manners and civil carriage respectively
unto men.
3. Natural affection and expressions of it to friends beseemeth God’s
servants.
4. It is a natural duty for relations to inquire of and wish each
other’s peace.
5. Conduct to a tent for rest is suitable for travellers that visit
their relations (Exodus 18:7). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Religious intercourse between parents and children
One Sunday night I said, “Ah! you mothers will say that your
children are all in bed; never mind, go upstairs and wake them, and talk to
them about their souls.” A mother (this I know to be true) went home, and her
little girl was in bed and asleep. She woke her and said, “Jane, I have not
spoken to you, dear child, about your soul. The pastor has been exhorting us
to-night, and saying that even if you were asleep you should be wakened.” Then
said Jane, “Mother, I have often wondered that you did not speak to me about
Christ, but I have known Him these two years.” The mother stood convicted. She
brought her daughter round on Monday and said, “Let this dear girl be baptized
and lore the church.” I said to her, “Why did you not tell your mother?”
“Well,” said she, “you know, mother never seemed to come up to the subject; she
never gave me a chance.” Then the mother said, “Quite right; I have not been to
my children what I ought to have been; but, please God, there shall never be
another child of mine that shall steal a march on her mother, and find Christ
without her mother knowing it.” God graciously rebuked that mother. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Religious conversation
Among the means to be used in times of religious interest we may
mention conversation. Many neglect it, but none can deny its power for good.
Says Dr. Archibald Alexander, in his book on “Religious Experience”: “Religious
conversation, in which Christians freely tell of the dealings of God with their
souls, has been often a powerful means of quickening the sluggish soul and
communicating comfort.” It is, in many cases, a great consolation to the
desponding believer to know
that his case is not entirely singular; and if a traveller can meet with one
who has been over the difficult parts of the road before him, he may surely
derive from his experience some salutary counsel and warning. The Scriptures
are favourable to such communications. “Come and hear,” says David, “all ye that
fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” Dr. Watts thought
so much of the “talent for parlour teaching,” that he declared that the man who
had it could do more good than the minister by his public discourses. Said one
who was under sentence of death: “When the minister spoke to me he seemed like
one who was standing far above me; but when Alexander, that good man that
everybody knows is the holiest man in the place, came in, he stood like one at
my side, and when he classed himself with me, and said, ‘Sinners like me and
you,’ I could stand it no longer.” Saurin, the great French preacher, said, in
his sermon on Christian conversation: “Are we returning from a sermon? Why not
entertain one another with the subjects we have been hearing? Why not endeavour
to imprint on one another’s memories the truths that have been proved, and to
impress upon one another’s hearts such precepts as have been enforced? Have we
been visiting a dying person? Why not make such reflections as naturally occur
on such occasions the matter of our conversations? Why not embrace such a fair
opportunity of speaking on the vanity of life, the uncertainty of worldly
enjoyments, and the happiness of a pious departure to rest? Have you been
reading a good book? Why not converse with our companions on the information we
have derived from it?”
Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness.
Lessons
1. The Church’s friends rejoice in all the good done for it, and
deliverance of it.
2. As Jehovah is the cause of good and deliverance to His Church, so
He is the object of their joy (Exodus 18:9).
3. Joyful hearts for the Church’s good are thankful hearts to God for
the same.
4. Deliverance of special relations, but especially of the Church,
from powers of enemies is just matter of thanksgiving (Exodus 18:10).
5. Experience of the mighty works of God perfects the knowledge of
Himself.
6. The great works of God set Him above all that are so called.
7. The pride of enemies exalts the power of God above them (Exodus 18:11).
8. Knowledge of God is best expressed in sacrificing and worship of
Him.
9. Holy feasting is consistent with God’s holy worship.
10. God’s glory must terminate all sacrificing and eating among His
people.
11. Eminent members of the Church may not disdain communion with true
proselytes (Exodus 18:12). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
Moses sat to Judge the people.
Lessons
1. God’s providence joins work to sacrifice, and His servants do
unite them.
2. The morrow brings its own work from God unto His servants, not every day the
same.
3. God’s substitutes are careful as to worship Him, so to do judgment
to God’s people.
4. Good rulers sit close to deal judgment to their people.
5. Providence puts hard work upon God’s ministers sometimes, from
morning to evening.
6. It is just to be unwearied in giving and receiving judgment when
God calleth (Exodus 18:13). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
Lessons
1. The greatest and best rulers disdain not to give an account of
their judgment to reasonable inquisitors.
2. The access of souls unto rulers to inquire of God, is a just
ground for them to attend the work.
3. The appeal of souls to man’s bar in matters, is and should be
inquiring after God (Exodus 18:15).
4. Duties of people and rulers are correlate, they come with matters,
and these must judge.
5. God’s laws and statutes axe the best rule to order judgment
between men.
6. It is duty to rulers to make people know the statutes and laws of
God. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Consulting with God
My heavenly Father is my “other partner” in my business. I consult
with Him. It is remarkable how I am relieved from the worry and anxiety so
common to business men. Frequently, when I desire to “think over a matter,” it
is really to consult with Him, after which my way is clear. And unto Him I
render one-tenth. I often think this order should be reversed, and I take the
tenth. (William A. Lay.)
Thou wilt surely wear away.
Undue application to laborious duties
Various lessons may be gathered from the fact that Moses was
wearing himself away by undue application to the duties of his office, and that
by adopting Jethro’s suggestion and dividing the labour he was able to spare
himself and nevertheless equally secure the administration of justice.
I. We see the
goodness of God in His dealings with our race in the fact that labour may be so
divided that man’s strength shall not be overpassed, but cannot be so divided
that man’s strength shall be dispensed with.
II. It is a
principle sufficiently evident in the infirmity of man that he cannot give
himself incessantly to labour, whether bodily or mental, but must have seasons
of repose. We shrink from the thought and the mention of suicide, but there are
other modes of self-destruction than that of laying hands on one’s own person.
There is the suicide of intemperance; there is also the suicide of overlabour.
It is as much our duty to relax when we feel our strength overpassed, as to
persevere while that strength is sufficient.
III. God has, with
tender consideration, provided intervals of repose, and so made it man’s own
fault if he sink beneath excessive labour. What a beautiful ordinance is that
of day and night! What a gracious appointment is that of Sunday! When the
Sabbath is spent in the duties that belong to it, its influence gives fresh
edge to the blunted human powers.
IV. Each one of us
is apt to be engrossed with worldly things. It is well that some Jethro, some
rough man from the wilderness, perhaps some startling calamity, should approach
us with the message, “The thing that thou doest is not good; thou wilt surely
wear away.”
V. At last we must
all wear away, but our comfort is that, though the outer man perish, the inner
man shall be renewed day by day. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Jethro’s advice to Moses; or, a word to ministers of the gospel
I. The power which
ministers of the gospel should have. “Be thou for the people to God-ward.”
II. The work which
ministers of the gospel should do.
1. Conduct Divine worship and establish suitable rules for the
government of their people.
2. Give the right impetus to the moral and religious life of their
people.
3. Explain to their people the duties devolving upon them.
III. The helps which
ministers of the gospel have (Exodus 18:21-22).
IV. The
qualifications which ministers of the gospel should possess.
1. Devout piety.
2. Truthfulness.
3. Disinterestedness.
4. Freedom. (W. Edwards.)
Lessons
1. God may use men of mean, calling, and endowments to help for
prudentials, for government in His Church.
2. The most morally good government may not be good in natural or
civil respects (Exodus 18:17).
3. Imprudential over-acting in doing judgment may consume rulers and
people.
4. Good and righteous work may be too heavy for the best and strongest
shoulders.
5. Solitariness in dealing judgment may carry great weakness in it.
6. It is good prudence to undertake burdens proportionable for
strength and no more (Exodus 18:18). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
Lessons
1. Supreme governors had need of subordinate to carry on the burden
of government.
2. Men entrusted with government should be eminently qualified with
wisdom, knowledge, courage, etc. Each endowment may give a special observation.
3. Variety of bounds for power are requisite to the various
capacities of rulers (Exodus 18:21).
4. Men so designed to rule ought all times reasonably to attend on
judgment.
5. Matters of greatest moment have a just way of appeal from lesser
to superior
judges.
6. Smaller matters are reasonably to be concluded by lesser hands.
7. Such distribution of work in government maketh the burden more
easy (Exodus 18:22).
8. Supreme rulers managing their affairs by others according to God’s
command, walk safely.
9. Prosperity to prince and people may be well expected by keeping
God’s commands (Exodus 18:23). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
The folly of solitary rulership
I. It causes an
undue strain upon the solitary individual. Wicked men sometimes kill themselves
by excess of pleasure. Good men should not kill themselves by excess of work
even in the service of God. Many great lives are lost to the Church through
excessive toils. The Divine Judge can never grow weary in His administration of
the universe.
II. It interferes
with the execution of the higher part of the judicial office. How often are
ministers engaged with the technical and local when they might be engaged in
the spiritual and universal. Justice needs more than administrative power; it
needs spiritual discernment and those qualities of moral character which are
the outcome of moral nearness to God; hence it requires men to be for the
people God ward. Jesus Christ is now for the people God-ward, the one Mediator
between God and man.
III. It leaves
unutilized a vast number of able men quite equal to the ordinary requirements
of justice. Ministers should not do all the work of the Church; they should
call out latent talent for it. Society has many unrecognized judges.
IV. That this folly
is evident to wise old men who see solitary judgeships in operation. Others can
form a more correct estimate of our work than we can. We are too near it to
take the perspective of it. We are too much interested in it to form
unprejudiced judgments concerning it. Let us be open to the voice of wise old
men who often speak to young men as in the fear of God. Lessons:--
1. That positions of trust should not be monopolized by the few.
2. That the common crowds of men have unsuspected abilities.
3. That good men should not be prodigal of their physical and mental
energy to the shortening of their lives. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Lessons on Exodus 18:17
I. Others view our
acts.
II. Others can
often see faults where we cannot.
III. Others
reproving us may lead to a better course of action.
Or--
I. Men should
interest themselves in the acts of their relatives.
II. Men should be
faithful in giving reproof and advice.
Or--
I. The wisest have
some defects in their conduct.
II. The wisest may
be benefited by the advice of others. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Jethro’s justice of peace
Here is the archetype or first draught of magistracy. Scripture is
the best man of counsel for the greatest statesman in the world.
1. It first gives order for the care and circumspection in the choice.
“Provide.”
2. Secondly, it directs the choice by four essential characters of
magistrates:--
3. Thirdly, it applies these four to magistrates of all degrees, in
aa exact distribution of them, by way of gradation, descending step by step,
from the highest to the lowest. “And place such over them to be rulers”--
4. Fourthly, it prescribes to the magistrates, thus qualified and
chosen, their offices, viz., to judge the people in the smaller causes, etc.,
and their assiduity and industry therein. “And let them judge the people at all
seasons, etc. And it shall be that they shall bring every great matter to thee,
but every small matter they shall judge.”
5. Lastly, it propounds the blessed fruit and emolument that will
necessarily ensue thereupon.
Need of a heroic spirit in judges
What heroical spirit had he need have, that must encounter the
Hydra of sin, oppose the current of the times, and the torrent of vice, that
must turn the wheel over the wicked; especially such roaring monsters, and
rebellious Korahs, such lawless sons of Belial, wherewith our times swarm, who
stick not to oppose with crest and breast, whosoever stand in the way of their
burnouts and lusts! Surely if Jethro called for courage in those modest
primitive times, and among a people newly tamed with Egyptian yokes, what do
our audacious and fore-headless swaggerers require? Our lees and dregs of time,
not unlike to those wherein God was fain to raise up extraordinary judges to
smite hip and thigh, etc. What Atlas shall support the state of the ruinous and
tottering world, in these perilous ends of time? For all these fore-named
purposes, how unapt is a man of soft, timorous, and flexible nature I for whom
it is as possible to steer a right course, without swerving to the left hand or
right, for fear or favour, as it is for a cock-boat to keep head against wind
and tide, without help of oars or sails: experience ever making this good, that
cowards are slaves to their superiors, fellow-fools to their equals, tyrants to
their inferiors, and windmills to popular breath, not being able to any of
these to say so much as No! (T. Brooks.)
Divine ordinances of labour
How valuable is a little common-sense--and how scarce! Here was
Moses, a man trained in kings’ palaces, deeply skilled in all the wisdom of
Egypt, and yet he has to wait till Jethro comes--a mere man of the desert,
before to a self-evident evil he can apply a self-evident remedy. Labour is
good; but if we labour unwisely, so as to overtask and enervate our faculties,
the labour which in itself is good becomes, through our perversity, an evil.
I. Labour is an
ordinance of God. There is work for all, and need for every man’s work, of
whatever sort it may be--from thinking the thoughts or pursuing the scientific
discoveries which clear the road along which the world is to advance, down to
working a loom or digging a field; from managing a large estate so as to
develop all its manifold capabilities of service, down to trimming its hedges
or hauling its coal.
II. The division of
labour is an ordinance of God. It is the wise division and distribution of
labour to which we owe all the services and comforts of civilized life; and the
wiser the distribution, the higher the civilization. It is this division of
labour which multiplies the products of labour, and not only sets men free to
invent improved methods of labour, but also puts them in the way of inventing
them. If, for instance, one man could make a tent in ten days, ten men, each of
whom was trained to make his separate part, would turn out not ten, but fifty
or a hundred tents in the same time; and each of the ten, always handling the
same tools and working on the same substance--canvas, or wood for poles and
pegs, or palm fibre or hemp for ropes--would naturally improve his tools to
save his pains, and discover qualities and capabilities in the substance which
only long familiarity could detect. From such simple beginnings as these has
risen that division of the whole civilized community into separate trades and
professions, and these trades and professions again into many component
elements and specialities, which multiplies its productive power to an almost
infinite extent, and keeps the discovery of our means and appliances of labour
up to the level of our growing numbers and wants.
III. The intromission
of labour is an ordinance of God. Not only has He given us an inward monitor
which warns us when mental or vital powers are overtasked, to seek out holiday
mirth and recreative sports, to change the air we breathe and the scenes on
which we look if perchance we may thus change the wearing current of our
thoughts; He has also fixed the bounds to our labour beyond which we cannot or
ought not to pass. Seven times a week the day draws to to an end, and the night
comes on in which most of us, at least, are compelled to rest. Once every week,
too, there returns the Day of Rest, on which we cease from our toils, and
withdraw our minds from the noisy labours and corroding anxieties of traffic.
And when we are over eager in our labours for present good, or what we think
good, God sends some rugged Jethro--some warning sickness or calamitous loss,
some sorrow that, passing through all our defences, smites and cleaves our very
heart. Not because He grudges our prosperity, or would abate our happiness, but
because He would have us rise to that sacred rest and satisfying peace which
even adversity cannot take away, He often sends a chastening whose message, if
we will hear it, is, “The thing thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear
thyself away, and wastefully expend thy life on things which perish as you
handle them. Turn ye at My reproof; for why should ye die?” (S. Cox, D. D.)
Jethro’s advice
I. The giver of
this advice. Jethro.
1. An old man. The father-in-law of Moses, who was now fully eighty
years of age. Age has had experience of life. Time for observation. Old men
have seen and noted causes of success and failure. Less likely than the young
to give bad advice. Are less moved by passion. Taught by memory. Are near to
eternity.
2. Thoughtful. His advice shows his thoughtfulness. Thought founded
on observation. He saw the labour of Moses and the extent of the camp.
3. Affectionate. He was a relative of Moses. Looked kindly also on
this great host of fugitives. Near relatives, amongst those who are most
anxious for our welfare.
4. Disinterested. He had nothing to gain personally by giving it,
save the satisfaction of his own mind and conscience.
5. Pious. Priest of Midian. Had a respect for the God of Israel.
“Rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel” (Acts 11:22-24). The advice of men that
fear God, who are men of prayer, and love the Bible, not to be slighted; it
will be agreeable to the mind of God.
II. The receiver of
this advice. Moses. He did not slight Jethro’s advice, although--
1. He was in direct communication with God. And we should respect the
words of good men, although we have also the Word of God. We have need to be
reminded of words, precepts, and promises, that we may overlook; or of laws,
etc., that we may not understand.
2. He had been eminently successful. Such a man, if not humble, might
have been very self-reliant; and have spurned the advice of another. Success
makes some unmanageable and proud.
3. He was himself an aged man. Might have thought himself too old to
be taught. As competent to give advice as Jethro. Inexperienced youth often
puffed up by a little knowledge. The more one really knows the more one feels
his ignorance.
4. He doubtless laid the advice he received before the Lord. Jethro
made this a condition (Exodus 18:23). Are we willing that the
advice we give should be tested by the Word of God? Do we so test the advice we
receive?
5. He acted upon it, and benefited by doing so. Much good advice is
lost in this world. Evaded, though good, because of trouble, or indifference,
or pride. The character of the adviser, or his opinion on other matters, made
an excuse for neglecting his words. Will God excuse the neglecter?
Learn--
1. To do good by word and deed, as we have opportunity, unto all men.
2. To get good, from all men, as opportunity offers. (J. C. Gray.)
Exhausting labour
Dr. Holland, after Mr. Bowles’s death, wrote as follows: “As I think
of my old associate and the earnest, exhausting work he was doing when I was
with him, he seems to me like a great golden vessel, rich in colour and roughly
embossed, filled with the elixir of life, which he poured out without the
slightest stint for the consumption of this people. We did not know when we
tasted it, and found it so charged with zest, that we were tasting heart’s
blood, but that was the priceless element that commended it to our appetites. A
pale man, weary and nervous, crept home at midnight, or at one, two, or three
o’clock in the morning, and while all nature was fresh and the birds were
singing, and the eyes of thousands were bending eagerly over the results of his
night’s labour, he was tossing and trying to sleep. Yet this work, so terrible
in its exactions and its consequences, was the joy of this man’s life--it was
his life.” (H. O. Mackey.)
A proposal for the public good
After Marcus Valerius had gained two great victories over the
Sabines, in one of which he did not lose a single soldier, he was rewarded with
a triumph, and a house was built for him upon Mount Palatine. The doors of the
Roman houses generally opened inwards, but this was built to open outwards, to
show that he who dwelt there was ready to listen to any proposal made to him
for the public good.
God-fearing men for responsible positions
One of Stonewall Jackson’s peculiarities was to select for his
chief of staff, not a military man, but a Presbyterian clergyman, a professor
in a theological seminary, and to clothe him with the power of carrying out his
mysterious orders when he was temporarily absent. In this he acted as did the
greatest of all English commanders--Oliver Cromwell; who always surrounded
himself with men of prayer. ( H. O. Mackey.)
Setting others to work
One of the best qualifications of a minister is the ability to set
the membership at work. It is said that Mr. Spurgeon asks every person seeking
admission to membership in his church. “Well, if you are received, what individual work are you going
to take up and carry on for the Lord?” As a result, he has now enrolled in his
church register, 5,756 communicants, who represent just so many willing workers
under his leadership. He saves his own strength by doing nothing that his
hearers can do equally well. And every minister who tries can carry the same
rule into practice with a membership of one hundred as well as five thousand.
Many ministers fritter away valuable time in doing what the laity might do as
well, and sometimes better, for them. (Christian Age.)
Justice to be done in small matters
In one of the police courts up town in New York, one morning not
long since, a very small boy in knickerbockers appeared. He had a dilapidated
cap in one hand, and a green cotton bag in the other. Behind him came a big
policeman, with a grin on his face. “Please, sir, are you the judge?” he asked
in a voice that had a queer little quiver in it. “I am, my boy. What can I do
for you?” asked the justice, as he looked wonderingly down at the mite before
him. “If you please, sir, I’m Johnny Moore. I’m seven years old, and I live in
One Hundred and Twenty-third street, near the avenue; and the only good place
to play miggles on is in the front of a lot near our house, where the ground is
smooth. But a butcher on the corner, that hasn’t any more right to the place
than we have, keeps his waggon standing there; and this morning we were playing
at miggles there, and he drove us away, and took six of mine, and threw them
away off over the fence into the lot. And I went to the police-station; and
they laughed at me and told me to come here and tell you about it.” The big
policeman and the spectators began to laugh, and the complainant at the bar
trembled so violently with mingled indignation and fright that the marbles in
his little green bag rattled together. The justice, however, rapped sharply on
the desk, and quickly brought everybody to dead silence. “You did perfectly
right, my boy,” said he, gravely, “to come here and tell me about it. You have
as much right to your six marbles as the richest man in this city has to his
bank account. If every American citizen had as much regard for his rights as
you show, there would be far less crime. And you, sir,” he added, turning to
the big policeman, “you go with this little man to that butcher and make him
pay for those marbles, or else arrest him and bring him here.” You see this boy
knew that his rights had been interfered with, and he went to the one having
authority to redress his wrongs. He did not throw stones or say naughty words,
but in a manly, dignified way demanded his rights. (S. S. Chronicle.)
Freedom of resort
It is an honourable memorial that James the Fifth, King of Scots,
hath left behind him, that he was called the poor man’s king; and it is said of
Radolphus Hapsburgius, that seeing some of his guard repulsing divers poor
persons that made towards him for relief, was very much displeased, and charged
them to suffer the poorest to have access unto him, saying, that he was called
to the empire not to be shut up in a chest, as reserved for some few, but to be
where all might have freedom of resort unto him. (J. Spencer.)
Spiritual vocation the highest
Jethro counselled Moses to be “for the people God-ward, that he
might bring the causes unto God.” The highest of all vocations is the
spiritual. It is greater to pray than to rule. Moses was to set himself at the
highest end of the individual, political, and religious life of Israel, and to
occupy the position of intercessor. He was to be the living link between the
people and their God. Is not this the proper calling of the preacher? He is not
to be a mere politician in the Church, he is not to enter into the detail of
organization with the scrupulous care of a conscientious hireling: he is deeply
and lovingly to study the truth as it is in Jesus, that he may be prepared to
enrich the minds and stimulate the graces of those who hear him. He is to live
so closely with God, that his voice shall be to them as the voice of no other
man, a voice from the better world, calling the heart to worship, to trust, and
to hope, and through the medium of devotion to prepare men for all the
engagements of common life. The preacher is to live apart from the people, in
order that he may in spiritual sympathy live the more truly with them. He is
not to stand afar off as an unsympathetic priest, but to live in the secret
places of the Most High, that he may from time to time most correctly
repronounce the will of God to all who wait upon his ministry. When preachers
live thus, the pulpit will reclaim its ancient power, and fill all rivalry with
confusion and shame. Let the people themselves manage all subordinate affairs;
call up all the business talent that is in the Church, and honour all its
successful and well-meant experiments; give every man to feel that he has an
obligation to answer. When you have done this, go yourself, O man of God, to
the temple of the Living One, and acquaint yourself deeply with the wisdom and
grace of God, that you may be as an angel from heaven when you come to speak
the word of life to men who are worn by the anxieties and weakened by the
temptations of a cruel world. Many a man inquires, half in petulance and half
in self-justification, “What more can I possibly do than I am already doing?”
Let the case of Moses be the answer. The question in his case was not whether
he was doing enough, but whether he was not doing too much in one special
direction. Some of the talent that is given to business might be more
profitably given to devotion, Rule less, and pray more. Spare time from the
business meeting that you may have leisure for communion with God. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
How to receive counsel
He might have thought: “what presumption in this Midianite to
dictate to the ambassador of Jehovah!” But Moses was a man of a very different
spirit. In Montreal, some years ago, a certain English nobleman who had been
recently converted, and was preaching the gospel to large multitudes who
gathered to hear him, unfortunately had his heart lifted up within him, and
began to speak bitterly and scornfully of the Churches of Christ in the city.
An excellent and revered Presbyterian elder approached the young nobleman in
the kindest way, spoke with great appreciation of the value of his work in
preaching the gospel, but suggested that it would be better for the cause if he
would cease abusing Christians and Christian Churches, and confine himself to
the preaching of Christ. In reply he curled his lip in scorn, and said, “I take
my counsel from the Lord!” What a contrast between the grand nobleman of the
olden time, and the small one of yesterday. Moses might with some reason have
claimed a monopoly of Divine counsel. God had chosen him out from all other men
to make known His will to him; but when Jethro, though an outsider, and one who
had only good common sense on his side, makes his suggestion, Moses does not
scorn to listen to his advice, and take it too. And the event showed that the
Lord fully approved His servant’s course. (J. M. Gibson, D. D.)
Division of labour
We recognize the value of the principle of division of labour in
manufactures, because there it cheapens the manufactured article, but we fail
to see its importance in our own work, because there, in the first instance, it
involves additional outlay. We cannot get a man competent to be the head of a
department without paying him a handsome salary; for responsibility means
character, and character always commands its price. So, to divide our work into
so many departments, and to put over each a thoroughly capable man whom we will
hold to a rigid account, requires the immediate expenditure of a large amount
of money, and we say we cannot afford it. But all this is a shortsighted
policy, for, in the long run, the greater amount of business done will more
than reimburse the original outlay; and, in addition, you can go home, not to fret and worry over
trifles, but to be the companion of your wife and the guide and director of
your children. Moreover, instead of breaking down hopelessly under the strain of
carrying everything on your own shoulders, and requiring to go abroad for
years, or, it may be, to leave business altogether, your strength remains
unimpaired--nay, perhaps it even increases; and you have the satisfaction of
seeing your home happy, and your children growing up to follow in your
footsteps, and to declare that their God is dearer to them because He is the
God of their father.. . . One said to me, when I began my ministry, “Never do
yourself what you can get another to do for you as well as you can do it
yourself”; and though I confess that I have not acted on the maxim as much as I
ought to have done, I see the wisdom of it more clearly, the longer I live.
“Divide et impera,” was the maxim of the old Roman general--divide and conquer;
and by dividing our labour into many sections, and holding some one responsible
for each, we shall do more, we shall do it better, and we shall work longer
than would be otherwise possible. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》